With the establishment of the China Patent Office in 1980,
China's patent work has developed continuously over 25 years.
In April 1, 1985, the "Patent Law of the People's Republic of
China" went into effect. Following that, China promulgated
several patent-related laws and regulations, such as the
"Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law," "Regulations
on Patent Commissioning," "Procedures for the Administrative
Enforcement of Laws Concerning Patents," and "Regulations on
the Implementation of Customs Protection of Patent Rights."
China has twice made revisions to the "Patent Law" in the
light of the requirements of social and economic development
so as to enable it to improve continuously.

By mainly relying on its own resources, China has
established a relatively complete and independent patent
examination system in a short period of time. On January 1,
1994, China became a member state of the "Patent Cooperation
Treaty." The China Patent Office is China's agency dealing
with cases involving the Patent Cooperation Treaty, performing
international patent searches and preliminary examinations.
Meanwhile, China has established a fairly comprehensive system
for patent work. Relevant departments of the State Council and
local governments have established patent administrative
organs in accordance with the provisions of the "Patent Law."
China now has more than 5,000 people working in patent
agencies, and a service system mainly providing patent
commissioning, patent information, patent technology transfer
intermediary and patent technology evaluation services has
taken initial shape.

China's patent work has
realized leapfrogging development. From April 1, 1985 to the
end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office handled
2,284,925 patent applications with an average annual increase
of 18.9 percent. Of these, 1,874,358 were domestic
applications, and 410,567 came from other countries,
accounting for 82 and 18 percent, respectively. Patent
applications in China had exceeded two million by March 17,
2004. It took China 15 years for patent applications to reach
one million. But it took only four years for the number to
double. In 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office
handled 353,807 applications, an increase of 14.7 percent over
the previous year, which saw 308,487 applications. Of these,
278,943 were domestic applications, accounting for 78.8
percent of the total and an increase of 11 percent over the
previous year, which saw 251,238 applications. Foreign
applications numbered 74,864, accounting for 21.2 percent of
the total and an increase of 30.8 percent over the previous
year, which saw 57,249 applications. From 1994 to 2004, the
State Intellectual Property Office handled, in total, 7,131
international applications for patent rights, of which 1,592
such applications were handled in 2004. International patent
applications that entered China via the channel of the Patent
Cooperation Treaty totaled 157,770. Of these, 32,438
applications were submitted in 2004.

By the end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office
had approved 1,255,499 patents. Of these, 1,093,268 were
domestic ones, and 162,231 were from other countries,
accounting for 87.1 and 12.9 percent of the total number of
approved patents, respectively. The numbers of invention
patents, utility model patents and exterior design patents
that had been approved were 185,412, 651,224 and 418,863,
accounting for 14.8, 51.9 and 33.3 percent respectively. In
2004, the State Intellectual Property Office approved 190,238
patents, an increase of 4.4 percent over the previous year,
which had 182,226. It approved 151,328 domestic patents, an
increase of 1.2 percent, compared with 149,588 in the previous
year. At the same time, it approved 38,910 foreign patents, an
increase of 19.2 percent over the previous year, which saw
32,638.

The "Regulations on the Protection of Layout Design of
Integrated Circuits" went into effect in China on October 1,
2001. By the end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property
Office had received 682 applications for the registration of
layout design of integrated circuits. It registered 571 of
them, and issued related public notices as well as
certificates to the applicants. In 2004 alone, the State
Intellectual Property Office received 244 applications for the
registration of layout design of integrated circuits. It
registered 205 of them, and issued related public notices as
well as certificates to the applicants.

In recent years, patent administration departments at all
levels have strengthened administrative enforcement of the law
in this respect. In particular, they have launched crackdowns
on infringements of patent rights of food and medicines, which
are closely connected with people's health and lives. They
have made great efforts to investigate and deal with cases
that infringe upon the patent rights of key technologies and
cases that had widespread repercussions. They have also
conscientiously investigated and dealt with infringements and
counterfeits of patent rights of inventions, utility models
and exterior designs. Following the State Council's unified
plan, in August 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office
issued the "Work Program on Strengthening Enforcement of the
Laws on Intellectual Property Rights and Launching a Special
Law Enforcement Campaign." All subsidiary departments under
the State Intellectual Property Office were mobilized to
participate in the campaign. By the end of that year, local
intellectual property offices had checked 10,251 industrial
venues and examined 2,081,537 commodity items. By the end of
2004, local patent administration departments across the
country had accepted 12,058 cases involving patent
infringement and patent disputes, and 10,411 of the cases, or
86.3 percent, were resolved. In 2004, local patent
administration departments accepted 1,455 cases involving
patent disputes, and 1,215 of them were resolved. They also
dealt with 3,965 cases of patent counterfeits, and 358 cases
of unauthorized use of others' patents.